Fan Fiction |
by Jenny Tran
The next few days at work, Julie concentrated most of her day on her suspicion of Andy. Her chin resting on her hand, which was propped up on her desk as she continued to stare at every little thing he did. Her brows wrinkling as she pondered who he was. Her thoughts were interrupted by her sister who tapped her on the shoulder “Why do you keep staring at him?” she asked after watching her sister looking at the odd guy without blinking.
“There something oddly suspicious about him.” Julie said without looking up.
Cass snickered “You mean the fact that he smells like the ladies room or that he looks like he hasn’t showered in ages?”
Julie shook her head “No, no, it’s not that. I just can’t put my finger on it.” She couldn’t tell her sister about her chase with him the other day. She wanted to keep her sister far away from her undercover work. The last thing she needed was to lose her last family member.
“You keep staring at him like that, Leann will surely see it and I won’t be able to cover your butt since she hates my guts.” Cass reasoned.
Julie practically pushed her sister away “I’ll be okay.” She insisted as she continued to stare at him.
Every so often Andy would turn back and find Julie staring at him intently. Although he found her cute, she was not someone he wanted to get involved in. When he had enough of her stares, he finally walked over “Can I help you with anything?” his frumpy wig covering half of his eyes.
“Tell me how you got away.” It was something she couldn’t answer herself.
He sighed “I ran away.”
She knew he was more experienced than he wanted her to believe “That’s impossible, even if your clothes could blend in with the crowd how could I miss that hair. No one has that style anymore.” Andy smiled the same mysterious smile that she soon recognized “What’s your real name?” she asked.
He laughed “Like I would ever tell you.”
“That’s fine, I’ll just ask Leann.” Julie shrugged. He only shook his head and walked away. Little did he know that nothing could stand in her way if she wanted to get anything. Later that day, she walked into Leann’s office “Sorry to bother you.”
The young female boss looked up with a small smile “Not a problem, what can I do for you?”
“I’ve been here for almost three weeks now and it’s embarrassing to say but I don’t know all of my co-workers. Is there a list of all the employees? It would help me remember names.” Julie suggested.
Leann smiled “Of course. I’m glad someone is into their work. It’s strange but in the past year, people have been a bit quieter and almost dull.” She reached into her desk and pulled out a tiny chip as she handed it to Julie “Here you go.”
Julie nodded thankfully “Thanks.” Her eyes wandered to one of the covered walls that she was using to look over a letter. Her vision darted back and forth as she read it.
Leann noticed as she got up and pointed to the letter “My brother is looking for a personal assistant.”
“I would think he already had one?” Julie asked.
She shook her head “No. Somehow he always manages to fire them within 1 month.” She snorted sarcastically “That’s his attention span.”
Julie had a sudden thought “Can I apply for it?”
Leann’s face clouded over “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“You don’t think I can do it?” Julie asked.
The girl shook her head “No, it’s not that. I think you’re a very nice person and you work very hard.” Julie almost blurted out with laughter at the last line “But I don’t want to see you go. He will fire you too.” She said surely.
“Well, maybe he won’t? If I have what it takes, should I have the opportunity to apply? Maybe I will be there longer than you think?” she was determined to talk her into it.
Leann was quiet as she thought about it, after a few minutes she nodded “Okay.” Julie beamed brightly at her response “But under one condition.” She held up her hand while Julie nodded in agreement “If he tries anything with you, I want you to come tell me personally.”
Julie nodded “Trust me, he won’t get the chance to try anything.”
Leann nodded “Okay, I’ll tell him. Go on up to the 10th floor.”
“Thank you!” Julie smiled as she left her office. Cass gave her sister a strange look when she saw her walking towards the elevators. Julie only shook her head slightly indicating that it was not a good time to ask.
Up on the 10th floor, Julie retraced her steps to the office where Leo was the first time she interviewed with him. Before she even knocked, the door opened and appeared a cool and collect Leo sitting on his leather chair. A remote control in his hands as he waited for her to enter “Ms. Cheung….I mean Mrs. Lai.” A smile crossed his face as he pressed the button closing the door behind her.
Her gaze relaxed on her soon to be boss, she was confident and that was what he liked about her “Mr. Fung.”
He waved his hand casually “Please, call me Leo.” He pressed another button and a chair rolled over to where she stood. She took a seat calmly awaiting his questions. “Should I have them bring your stuff up?”
Julie was a bit confused “Isn’t this an interview?”
He laughed loudly throwing his head back “I don’t believe in interviews. I hire people from my internal instincts.” He got up slowly and walked around his glass desk to where she sat. He couldn’t take his eyes off her as he reached down to graze her face with the back of his hand. She wanted to slap it off her face but remained cool. “Tsk, tsk, tsk such a shame…why would you get married so soon?” he asked.
“I didn’t want to.” She sighed. Julie saw his eyes widened as he snapped his finger and his chair came rolling behind him. Without looking back, he seated himself as he gave her his full attention.
“Did he make you? I can take care of it this minute.” She knew he meant it too.
She quickly shook her head “No, it’s not that. You see, I met him during my school years in London.” She played with her watch as she spoke “His mother really liked me, on her death bed, she requested that we get married. It really wasn’t my choice.” She insisted.
He nodded like a zombie, lost in her beauty. But even then, his suspicious nature crawled from under him “That sounded almost like a fairy tale.”
She smiled “You don’t believe me? Ask Will yourself.” She dared him.
Leo smiled crookedly as he took her dare “Sure.” Her face fell and his instincts told him she was lying. He reached over to his desk as he pressed a button on his phone “Mr. Lai, please report to my office. This is Leo Fung.” He let go of the button and turned his attention back to Julie. Her eyes had deceived her as she looked away, his eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at her, trying to read her very thoughts.
Julie was worried since they only made up that story for Cass, but they never planned a story for Leo. She hoped that he had heard her speak earlier when she played with her watch. She actually pressed an intercom button that connected to Will’s watch. Within minutes, her supposed husband stood before them “You called, Mr. Fung?” he asked while his gaze turned down to Julie. She did not look up.
“Your wife here told me an interesting story and I want to hear it from your end.” He asked carefully “Why did you two get married?”
Will looked down at Julie once again, she bit her lip while he spoke “I guess it’s useless to lie to you. It was my mother’s dying wish that we get married. She began to get really sick about a year ago and Julie was really my only friend that knew about my mother. Needless to say, my mother adored her to death. She wanted us to be happy. But…” he let his words fade slowly becoming incoherent, he too was playing with his watch.
Leo nodded unconvincingly “I see.” He returned to his desk as he pressed on his clear screen computer. He sat back with his hands clasped together “Julie Cheung.” He commanded the screen as it pulled up her background. His eyes wandered to the couple, it was hard to see if he was convinced or their cover was blown. “William Lai.” He spoke to the computer and it too pulled up Will’s background.
Will and Julie looked at each other, both knew if their cover was blown, it would only lead to death. They held onto their breaths to see his reaction. “Is something wrong?” Julie dared to ask.
Leo’s eyes turned to her as he let out a sigh “I guess I do owe you two an apology.” He did not see their sigh of relief “Our systems here are very much updated, there is absolutely nothing you could hide from us.” It sounded more like a warning than just advising them. His smiled returned as he stood up “You may go now Will.” He had nothing else to say to the guy “Julie, welcome to the 10th floor. Your desk will be right outside my office.” He nodded for the two of them to leave.
****************
Later that night when they returned to the house, Will received notice from Sergeant Liu. The clear picture appeared on the wall from Will’s watch. “Did he buy your story?” he wasted no time asking Julie.
She nodded “Yes, thank goodness we were quick to press the intercom button.”
“Why don’t you warn me about your plan before you do something?” Will lightly scolded her.
Julie knew she was at fault “I’m sorry. I did not mean for it to happen so quickly. It was my only chance to be closer to Leo Fung. I didn’t have time to warn you.”
Sergeant Liu nodded understandingly “I’ve always taught you two to work with your gut. You should not be blamed, but do be careful next time.”
“Yes, sir.” Julie nodded. “I’ll try to find out what’s lurking behind the no trespassing zone.”
The wise man nodded “Good, be careful. You should do it after hours. Agent Lai, do not let her out of your sight when the time comes to explore.”
“Yes, sir.” Will assured the man.
“Before I leave, I want to warn you two that there is a box of equipment and weapons for you two to use. By the rate this is going, their secret will be discovered within weeks. You will need the weapons, who knows what kind of monsters they have developed.” The man disappeared leaving the two to their own thoughts.
“Did he say when he sent the box?” Julie asked.
Will shook his head “I just hope Cass doesn’t see it.”
He spoke too soon as they heard her shrieking from the living room. The two raced outside and found her sitting on the ground with an open box of odd gadgets. She held up a triangular shaped object, there were tiny buttons running on one edge “These are cool toys!!” she exclaimed holding it up to Julie.
“NO!” she cried to her sister, hoping she would not press a button. Julie reached over and grabbed the object from her hand as she threw it in the box “These are tests that..uh…Mr. Fung gave me to try. No one can see them.” She pointed out.
Cass pouted “Why don’t I get to play with the cooler toys. All I get are talking barbies.” She wrinkled her face. “Anyways, he won’t know that I played with them.” She tried to reach for it but Will stood in the way.
“Come on Cass, don’t get her in trouble. It’s her first day on the job.” He pointed out as he reached down and pulled her up by the hand “Let’s go out to dinner.” He suggested.
“Yeah. It’ll be fun.” Julie insisted, trying to keep her sister’s mind off the ‘toys’. Cass nodded as the three headed out to the spinning restaurant located in the heart of the city. It was a tall tube that took you all the way up 50 stories while a circular restaurant spun in motion around the tube. It was one of the newer attractions that Hong Kong had just built.